Expendable pallet device

ABSTRACT

An expendable pallet leg preformed to provide locking flanges or shelves for selectively attaching a plurality of pallet legs at spaced locations on the material to be transported or handled by a lift truck such as stacks of corrugated boards, laminar metal sheets, ply-wood or other sheet-form material, or to corrugated boxes used for handling transportable articles.

United States Patent 1 1 Brennan [54] EXPENDABLE PALLET DEVICE [76]inventor: Francis P. Brennan, 1057 Rolling Drive, Lisle, Ill. 60532 [22]Filed:

Mar. 15, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 123,982

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No.70,407, Sept. 8,

[52] U.S. Cl. ..l08/51, 108/56, 248/188.8

[51] Int. Cl. ..B65d 19/00 [58] Field of Search ..208/51-58;

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,251,320 5/1966 Whittle,Jr ..108/5l 1,953,303 4/1934 Kohlmanh ...108/51 UX 1,349,917 8/1920Roberts 108/58 3,442,231 5/1969 Jurasek ..l08/53 3,130,692 4/1964 Burket al ..l08/51 1 Apr. 3, 1973 3,276,808 10/1966 Scaramuzzi ..l08/51 x3,474,744 10/1969 Montgomery... ..108/51 3,472,182 .10/1969 Eklund..108/51 2,643,046 6/1953 Humphreys ..248/3l1 x 1,065,460 6/1913McCloskey ..2s7/2o.92 o

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 795564;, 5/1958 Great Britain ..10 /s31,005,589 9/1965 Great Britain... 108/51 619,532 5/1961 Canada....l08/5l Primary Examiner-Francis K. Zugel Assistant Examiner-Peter A.Aschenbrenner Attorney-Hill, Sherman, Meroni, Gross & Simpson [57]ABSTRACT An expendable pallet leg preformed to provide locking flangesor shelves for selectively attaching a plurality of pallet legs atspaced locations on the material to be transported or handled by a lifttruck such as stacks of corrugated boards, laminar metal sheets,ply-wood or other sheet-form material, or to corrugated boxes used forhandling transportable articles.

13 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR 3 m5 SHEET 1 OF 3ffiazzgz'iffirazzwzz @Wirnumuw PATENTED N I975 SHEET 3 BF 3 INVENTOR A TTOPNE VS EXPENDABLE PALLET DEVICE This application is acontinuation-in-part of my application Ser. No. 70,407, Filed Sept. 8,1970 and entitled Expendable Pallet Device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION l.,The Field of the Invention This inventionrelates generally to pallet devices for utilization in connection withmaterial to be handled by lift trucks.

2. The Prior Art Heretofore, pallet devices have utilized skids made ofwooden runners or platforms. The material to be transported must bephysically loaded on the skid or platform so that the fork of the lifttruck may be inserted subjacent the platform.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention a pallet legis preformed to provide locking flanges or shelves permitting aplurality of such legs to be attached in spaced apart relation to thematerial itself or to boxes containing plural articles.

Each pallet leg has an upright leg portion adapted to engage a supportsurface and some form of locking --means at the top by means of whichattachment to the load is effected.

For example, the locking means may comprise vertically'spaced flanges orshelves forming a slotted space v for receiving a laminar part of theload such as the bottom layer of a stack of corrugated or such as theflap of a corrugated box. In such an arrangement, the flanges or shelveshave embossed dogs or ears which dig into the adjacent corrugatedsurface to prevent shifting during normal usage.

The locking means may also be adapted to receive a metal lamination or aply-wood such as the lowest layer of a stack of metal or plywood sheets.Appropriate means are provided on the flanges or shelves to cooperatewith the adjacent surface of the load.

The present invention provides an inexpensive throw-away pallet legwhich with other similar legs may be assembled to the bottom of acontainer during assembly of the container to provide spacing which willaccommodate the forks of a fork lift or pallet truck and the like forapproach from any direction.

The invention also provides an inexpensive pallet in the form of aseries of legs adapted to be attached to and locked to the bottom of acontainer in the assembly 'of the container, and supporting thecontainer to be lifted by the forks of a fork lift truck.

The invention also integrates the bottom of a container into a pallet,by the use of throw-away legs attached to the container during assembly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partial fragmentary view in sideelevation of a carton supported on pallet legs constructed in accordancewith the principles of the present invention with certain parts brokenaway.

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation looking at the pallet leg toward oneend of the pallet leg.

FIG. 3 is a view somewhat similar to FIG. 2, but looking at the palletleg toward the opposite end thereof from that shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the pallet leg shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

FIG. 5 is a view in side elevation of the pallet leg.

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of a corrugated container showing thepallet legs attached thereto. FIG. 7 is a top plan view ofa modifiedform of pallet leg constructed in accordance with the principles of the.present invention.

FIG. 8 is a view in side elevation of the pallet leg shown in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a generally diagrammatic view illustrating the support of astack of knocked-down flat containers on a corrugated board supported onpallet legs constructed in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a blank for forming a pallet leg in accordancewith still another form in which the invention may be embodied.

FIG. 11 is a view in side elevation of a pallet leg formed from theblank shown in FIG. 10, looking at the leg towards the inside thereof.

FIG. 12 is a view in side elevation of the pallet leg shown in FIG. 11,looking at the pallet leg from the outside of the leg; and

FIG. 13 is a top plan view of the pallet leg shown in FIGS. 11 and 12.

in FIGS. 1 and 6 of the drawings, I have shown a typical corrugatedcontainer or carton 10. supported on four pallet legs 11 provided inaccordance with this invention, one being on each corner of thecontainer and elevating the bottom of the container above the ground asufficient distance to enable forks 12 of a fork lift truck to lift andtransport the container. If necessary or desirable, it will beunderstood that additional legs could be utilized, for example, at thecenter of the loador on the sides or wherever needed foradequate'support.

Each leg 11 may be fabricated from sheet metal or plastic and includestwo ribs or upright legs 15 and 16 forming downward continuations of thecorners of the container, when assembled thereto. The bases or lowerends of the leg portions 15 and 16 form supports adapted to engage asupporting surface and the truncated apices of the leg portions form thebase of the leg. Locking means for attaching the leg directly to thematerial or load to be handled are on its upper end. A flange 17 extendsalong the hypotenuse of the leg portion 15 for a portion of the lengththereof to act as a strengthening member for the leg, or the edge of theleg portion may be embossed or curled for that purpose. A shelf orflange 19 is bent inwardly of the base of the triangle of the legportion 15 and forms part of the locking means as well as a support fora corrugated board 20, which may be the bottom flap of the container l0.Embossments 21 are spaced along the leg portion 15 and pressed outwardlytherefrom and meet inwardly formed embossments of shelf 19 to strengthenthe shelf. Struck-out or embossed lugs 19a frictionally engage anadjoining load surface.

The leg portion 16 has a reinforcing rib or flange extending along thehypotenuse of the'triangle, like the rib 17. A second shelf 23 extendsinwardly from the top of said leg portion 16 along the base of thetriangle, and parallel to and spaced above the shelf 19 to form a partof the locking means. For example, the spacing may be a distance equalto the thickness of the corrugated board 20 forming the bottom of thecontainer 10. Embossments 24 are pressed outwardly of the leg portion 16and extend vertically therealong meeting the depressed embossments onshelf 23 for a short portion of the width thereof, to give rigidity tothe corner of the pallet leg and hence to the shelf underlying the load.The shelf 23 has pierced embossed portions 25 pierced and/or embossedoutwardly from the inside thereof, prior to bending of the shelf intoits finished form. The pierced portions 25 provide rough dogs or ears orprotrusions 26 extending upwardly of the top of the shelf, andengageable with the underside of an end flap 27 lapping the bottom flap20 and retaining the leg in position at the corner of the carton, as thebottom flaps 20 are closed and sealed by taping, stitching, gluing, or

- leg portions and shelves 19 and 23 respectively, to afford astrengthening means for the shelves in cooperation with the embossments21 and 24.

In the bottom plan view of FIG. 6, the legs 11 are shown as assembled tothe carton to form a support therefor. In assembling the legs to thecarton, as the container blank is formed to its box-like form, prior toclosing the bottom of the container, the legs 11,11 will be assembled tothe flaps 20,20 at each corner thereof with the bottom flap 20 extendingbetween the shelves 19 and 23 to be supported on the shelf 19 when thecontainer is inverted. The flaps 20,20 may then be hinged inwardly anddownwardly into their closed positions and sealed in position as bystitching or as by use of tape as shown at 32, or in any suitable mannerconventionally used in the closing of the bottoms of containers. As thebottom is closed and taped, the protrusions 26 will engage the undersideof the inner flap 27 and effectively hold 'the legs in position to formdownward continuations of the corners of the container. The containermay then be loaded and lifted by the forks of a fork lift truck and thelike, approaching from any angle.

In the form of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 7,8

' and 9, I have shown legs 33,33 applied directly to the load such as acorrugated board 34 or the like to constitute a pallet which in turn mayform the support for a stack of knocked-down flat corrugated containers,etc. In this form of the invention, the legs 33 each have right angleleg portions 35 and 36 extending at right angles with respect to eachother, which may be formed in the form of inverted right angledtriangles like the leg portions and 16. The leg portion 35 is shown ashaving a shelf 37 bent inwardly from the top thereof and extendingbeyond the end thereof. The portion of the shelf 37 extending beyond theends of the leg portion 35 terminates into a downtumed lip 40, adaptedto retain banding to the shelf portion and'to accommodate a stack ofknocked-down flat corrugated containers to be banded to the pallet.

The portion of the shelf 37. adjacent the lip 40 is shown at 40a asforming a banding portion for a band 47. Thus, the pallet leg can beeffectively utilized with any stack of laminar parts or members such asmetal plates or ply-wood since the banding portion 40a per-v mits theleg to be securely fastened directly to the load by means of thestripping bands as shown at 47 in FIG. 9

The shelf 37 is shown as having right angled punchings 41 forming sharpone-way projections 43 engageable with the bottom of the corrugatedboard 34. The leg portion 36 has an inwardly bent shelf portion 44extending parallel to the shelf 37 and spaced above said shelf adistance equal to the thickness of the corrustack of laminar parts as astack of knocked-down flat,

cartons 46, with the bottom laminar part supported on the bottom shelf37 and the top shelf 44 engaging the top of the laminar part and thecooperating one-way sharp gripping projections 43 and 45 engaging therespective bottom and top surfaces of the laminar part, and locking thelegs in position at the comers of the board.

The stack of laminar parts 46 may then be supported on the laminar part34 and retained thereto as by banding 47 extending about the stack oflaminar parts along the bottom of the laminar part 34 and engaging theextensions of the lower shelves 37 and retained thereto as by theretaining lips 40. The legs will thus be positively secured to thelaminar part 34 with the stack of laminar parts 46 supported thereon,and provide a pallet means of a simple and inexpensive construction forquick and easy fork lift handling of a stack of bands, sheets, orknocked-down flat containers or other articles to be transported.

In FIGS. 10 through 13, I have shown a form of pallet leg 50 similar inprinciple to the pallet leg illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 5 of thedrawings, but particularly adapted for stacking and for handling heavierloads than the pallet leg of FIGS. 1 through 5. The pallet leg 50 may befabricated from a sheet metal blank 51 having one half 53 having aportion 55 adapted to be bent along a dashed line 56 to form a lowerhorizontal flange or shelf portion 57, as shown in FIG. 11.

The blank 51 also has a second half 58 similar to the half 53 and havingan upper portion 59 adapted to be bent along a dashed line 60 to form ahorizontal flange or shelf portion 61 disposed above the shelf portion57 and extending parallel with respect thereto; The spacing between theflanges or shelf portions 57 and 61 depends upon the thickness of thelaminar part of the load such as the bottom of a container, a board orother article to be locked in position between said shelf portions.

Generally crescent shaped sharp shear projections or cars 63 areembossed or sheared from the portion 55, from the opposite side of theblank from that shown in FIG. prior to bending of this portion into theflange or shelf portion 57. The crescent shaped shear projections orears 63 face upwardly and toward the shelf 61 to grippingly engage thebottom of a corrugated board or other member supported on the shelfportion 57 when pushed along said shelf portion along the slot formedbetween the top surface of the shelf portion 57 and the underside of theshelf portion 61.

Similar generally crescent shaped shear projections or ears 65 areembossed or sheared from the portion 59 of the blank from the front sideof the blank. The crescent shaped shear projections 65 are shown asfacing upwardly to contact the load and downwardly toward the shelf 57and toward a leg portion 66 for the shelf 61, to come into grippingengagement with the top surface of a corrugated board or like memberforming the bottom of a container, or other article supported on theshelf portion 57 and inserted along said shelf portion 57 under theshelf portion 61. While I have shown the shear projections as projectingupwardly and downwardly from the shelf 61, in many cases, it is onlynecessary that they project in one direction.

Prior to bending the blank to its pallet leg form, elongated embossments67 are pressed in the halves 53 and 58 of the blank in parallel spacedrelation with respect to each other and extend for substantially theheight of the leg portions of the blank, to strengthen the leg portionsof the pallet leg when assembled.

Feet 69 and 70 are bent inwardly of the blank at right angles withrespect to the vertical leg portions thereof. This operation may takeplace simultaneously with the bending of the portions 55 and 59 to formthe horizontal flanges or shelves 57 and 61.

During the operation of bending the shelves and feet, the halves 53 and58 of the blank may be bent at right angles with respect to each otherabout a bend line indicated by dashed line 71. The blank is now in theform of a right angled pallet leg having a horizontal flange or shelfportion 57 extending inwardly from a leg portion 72 thereof and a secondhorizontal flange or shelf portion 61 extending inwardly from a rightangled leg portion 66, and spaced above and parallel to the shelfportion 57, and having feet 69 and 70 extending inwardly of said legportions 72 and 66 respectively, and adapted to rest on and support thepallet leg on the ground. The feet 69 and 70 particularly adapt thepallet legs and loads supported thereon for stacking.

' After bending the blank to the leg-like form shown in FIG. 11, thelegs, shelves and leg portions are gusseted at each corner of the bentblank as indicated by reference numerals 75. The locations of thegussets are illustrated by broken lines in FIG. 10, it being understoodthat the gussets are not formed until the blank is bent to form. Asshown in FIGS. 10,11,12 and 13, two gussets 75 extend along the cornerformed between the leg portion 66 and flange or shelf 57. Two othergussets 75 extend along the corner formed between the foot 69 and legportion 66. Two other gussets 75 extend along the bend lines formedbetween the leg portion 62 and the shelf 61 and two gussets 75 extendalong the corner between the foot 70 and leg portions 72. Two othergussets 75 extend along the corner forming the leg portions 66 and 72.The gussets 75 at each corner or bend of the blank, thus reinforce theshelves, feet and leg portions of the pallet leg, to strengthen andretain the shelves, leg portions and feet in the proper relation withrespect to each other. The foregoing gussets may be formed by a pressingoperation pressing inwardly of the corners of the pallet leg by a dieand the like after the pallet leg is bent to the form shown in FIG. 1 1.

The pallet legs 50 may thus be assembled to each corner of a carton orload. Where the pallet legs are assembled to a carton they may beassembled either before or after assembling the carton. The pallet legsherein shown and described are particularly adapted to be assembled tothe bottom of a carton after the carton has been assembled by insertingthe legs along the corners of the carton to insert the slots formedbetween the shelves along opposite sides of the bottom of the cartonwith the crescent like shear projections 63 and interlockingly engagedwith the bottom of the carton. The legs 50 may also be used forsupporting corrugated board or other forms of board or material to formthe board or other materials or loads into a pallet.

It should here be understood that while the pallet legs are hereindescribed as made from sheet metal that they need not necessarily bemade from sheet metal, but may be molded or extruded from suitableplastics or other materials.

Although minor modifications might be suggested by those versed in theart, it should be understood that I wish to embody within the scope ofthe patent warranted hereon all such modifications as reasonably andproperly come within the scope of my contribution to the art.

I claim:

1. In a pallet device and in combination with a load, a plurality ofpallet legs, each pallet leg comprising, two leg portions extending atright angles with respect to each other,

each leg portion having an inwardly bent shelf, one

of which is spaced above the other a distance sufficient to receive andsupport a laminar part of the load.

2. The pallet device of claim 1,

wherein the load is the bottom corrugated flap of a container, and

wherein the uppermost shelf has upwardly projecting protrusionsengageable with the inner bottom flap of a container and the lower shelfhas one-way upwardly projecting protrusions engageable with the outerbottom flap to lock the pallet leg to the. bottom of the container whenassembled.

3. The pallet device of claim 2,

wherein the upper and lower shelves have gripping projections facingeach other providing one-way gripping projections locking the pallet legto the load.

4. The pallet device of claim 1,

wherein the legs have horizontally spaced embossments extendingvertically therealong and joining with ribs or depressions along theshelves to strengthen the right angle joint between the legs wherein thelowermost shelf has an extension forming a means for strapping thepallet leg to a load, and

wherein the extension on the lowermost shelf has an outer downturnedlip, for retaining the strapping thereto.

7.'A pallet device comprising,

at least one sheet, a plurality of pallet legs for said sheet, eachpallet leg having,

two leg portions extending at right angles with respect to each otherand in the general form of inverted truncated right angled triangles,each leg portion having a shelf extending inwardly from the upper endthereof, one of which shelves is spaced above the other a distance equalto the thickness of the sheet and interlocking protrusions on at leastone of said shelves. 8. The pallet device of claim 7, wherein theinterlocking protrusions are on each of said shelves and face eachotherand form one-way gripping connections for the sheet material. 9. Thepallet device of claim 8, wherein the lowermost shelf has an extensionextending under the sheet providing an additional means for securing thepallet leg to the sheet material with strapping to support a stack ofsheets.

10. The pallet device of claim 9,

wherein the extension from the lowermost shelfhas an outer downturnedlip for retaining the strap thereto.

11. The pallet leg of claim 6,

wherein the leg portions have feet extending inwardly from the bottomsthereof, providing relatively wide ground engaging surfaces.

12. The pallet leg of claim 13,

wherein the interlocking protrusions are'sheer projections and arecrescent-like in form having sharp gripping edges digging into adjacentopposite'surfaces of the laminar part of the load.

13. The pallet skid device of claim 12,

wherein the leg portions are generallylrectangular in form and havehorizontally spaced reinforcing embossments extending verticallytherealong for substantially the length thereof, and

wherein gussets are provided at the juncture of said leg portions witheach otherand 'at the junctures of said leg portions with said feet andshelves.

1. In a pallet device and in combination with a load, a plurality ofpallet legs, each pallet leg comprising, two leg portions extending atright angles with respect to each other, each leg portion having aninwardly bent shelf, one of which is spaced above the other a distancesufficient to receive and support a laminar part of the load.
 2. Thepallet device of claim 1, wherein the load is the bottom corrugated flapof a container, and wherein the uppermost shelf has upwardly projectingprotrusions engageable with the inner bottom flap of a container and thelower shelf has one-way upwardly projecting protrusions engageable withthe outer bottom flap to lock the pallet leg to the bottom of thecontainer when assembled.
 3. The pallet device of claim 2, wherein theupper and lower shelves have gRipping projections facing each otherproviding one-way gripping projections locking the pallet leg to theload.
 4. The pallet device of claim 1, wherein the legs havehorizontally spaced embossments extending vertically therealong andjoining with ribs or depressions along the shelves to strengthen theright angle joint between the legs and shelves.
 5. The pallet device ofclaim 1, wherein both shelves have an extension providing a means forthe strapping to further secure the pallet legs at their position. 6.The pallet device of claim 3, wherein the lowermost shelf has anextension forming a means for strapping the pallet leg to a load, andwherein the extension on the lowermost shelf has an outer downturnedlip, for retaining the strapping thereto.
 7. A pallet device comprising,at least one sheet, a plurality of pallet legs for said sheet, eachpallet leg having, two leg portions extending at right angles withrespect to each other and in the general form of inverted truncatedright angled triangles, each leg portion having a shelf extendinginwardly from the upper end thereof, one of which shelves is spacedabove the other a distance equal to the thickness of the sheet andinterlocking protrusions on at least one of said shelves.
 8. The palletdevice of claim 7, wherein the interlocking protrusions are on each ofsaid shelves and face each other and form one-way gripping connectionsfor the sheet material.
 9. The pallet device of claim 8, wherein thelowermost shelf has an extension extending under the sheet providing anadditional means for securing the pallet leg to the sheet material withstrapping to support a stack of sheets.
 10. The pallet device of claim9, wherein the extension from the lowermost shelf has an outerdownturned lip for retaining the strap thereto.
 11. The pallet leg ofclaim 6, wherein the leg portions have feet extending inwardly from thebottoms thereof, providing relatively wide ground engaging surfaces. 12.The pallet leg of claim 13, wherein the interlocking protrusions aresheer projections and are crescent-like in form having sharp grippingedges digging into adjacent opposite surfaces of the laminar part of theload.
 13. The pallet skid device of claim 12, wherein the leg portionsare generally rectangular in form and have horizontally spacedreinforcing embossments extending vertically therealong forsubstantially the length thereof, and wherein gussets are provided atthe juncture of said leg portions with each other and at the juncturesof said leg portions with said feet and shelves.